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2025 County Report

Fires in Taylor County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Taylor County responded to 963 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

136,747 residents FIPS 48441 17 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
963
3,056 across 5 years
Building fires
56
126 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$1.2M structure · $370K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

963
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 183 19.0%
Power line down 183 19.0%
Grass fire 74 7.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 62 6.4%
Building fires 56 5.8%
All other categories 405 42.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Taylor County?

Jun peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 13
Feb 73
Mar 140
Apr 93
May 85
Jun 154
Jul 84
Aug 81
Sep 84
Oct 73
Nov 74
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Taylor County

3,056 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,007
2022 767
2023 154
2024 165
2025 963
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 56 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
74
Cause undetermined
17%
29
Intentional / arson
8%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
22
Under investigation
11%
19
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $595K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Taylor County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 51% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Trent Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion Significant
2 $80,000 Abilene Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 ABILENE Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 ABILENE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $60,000 Abilene Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
6 $50,000 Abilene Building fires Significant
7 $45,000 ABILENE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $45,000 abilene Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $40,000 ABILENE Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 ABILENE Building fires Significant
06 How Taylor County compares

Taylor County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.04
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Taylor County
7.04
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.41
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Taylor County
0.41
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Taylor County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Taylor County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48441.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Taylor County

13 departments report from this county.

Abilene FD
Abilene
FDID WC701 826 incidents
Merkel VFD
Merkel
FDID WC404 78 incidents
View VFD
Abilene
FDID WC308 42 incidents 33 vol
Tye FD City of
TYE
FDID WC407 17 incidents 20 vol
Moro VFD
Ovalo
FDID WC201 5 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in TX

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Smokehouse Creek 2024 SF 1,054,154
2 Rock House 2011 NPS 314,377
3 Potter#1FP (Fain Plant) 2006 NPS 22,040
4 Cane 2017 NPS 14,240
5 WF HOLIDAY 1 & 2 2012 FWS 14,181
6 PAIS Front Country S. FY20 RX (ADD-ON) 2020 NPS 13,339
7 Laguna 24 2024 NPS 12,385
8 CUTOFF 2010 NPS 10,280
9 WF Unit 1 1/2 2015 FWS 7,657
10 Big Canyon 1990 NPS 7,432

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.